Blind or severely visually impaired and using diapers

Please disregard the misspelling , i am using iphone with voiceover on while i type and sometimes it auto fills stuff and i dont catch it until it reads it back and its such a pain in the ass to go back and fix but if u use voiceover to listen to the post u should be able to get what i mean. Thanks.

Hi, i figured id start a new thread for this since some of us found we have some vision disabilities in common, and also use or need diapers.

So, im almost 39 yr old male. Ive always been visually impaired but now consider myself blind or severely visually impaired. I was born with retinopathy of prematurity, thus causing me to have no vision in my right eye and impaired vision in the left eye. But not so bad until recently. I needed retinal detachment surgery to save what vision i had left and was told my vision would be far worse then before but i didnt realize how bad it would be. I do hve some residual vision left but its not great, i have no iris and glaucoma, and the shape of the eye changed a bit . So the effects of all this is that now i am super light sensitive, and the vision i do have isnt clear at all. What im able to see depends greatly on the light conditions in combination with one of multiple pairs of sunglasses i have. And since i have no iris ,my focus isn't as fast as before. I also use a white cane to get around also. Adjusting to this has been a long process.

I was a DL before my vision went to shit, so im used to wearing diapers. In the past 5 years or so i have started dealing with bedwetting issues that came on after needing the use of a CPAP machine for sleep apnea. I realize that it usually stopsthis issue but for me it made it happen more . I also find diapers to help with falling asleep faster as i am able to wet myself reather than get up 2 or 3 times to pee before i fall asleep or while trying to. After the eye surgery i had some bladder issues because of a med for my eye preasure i was on that , maybe caused a kidney stone, and after, the constant urge to pee which was super annoying. This almost caused me to postpone the start of my vision rehab program , but it didnt and, while there was in diapers 24/7, with a doctors note for it. The constant urges went away shortly thereafter but found myself to be in a scary and stressful situation, which is this, knowing i pee a lot anyways, what do i do when im out on orientation and mobility lessons,? Well my answer of course was to just continue to wear diapers. This proved to be a life saver because i was in plenty of situations on lessons where i was out for 2 hrs at a time and there either was no bathroom around or not available unless u were a customer. Now its been 9 months since ive come back home and have had plenty of time to navigate my area and get around on buses and paratransit by or by foot . I have also started back at my part time job bagging groceries. I still find that i need diapers all the time when i go out as i still find myself either not able to get to a bathroom even if i know where it is, or because im in situation where one isn't available, like when im on the bus or waiting for a bus or when im at work, and cant just leave anytime i want, besides, navigating the route to the bathroom in my store, isn't the fastest thing to do by cane, , people traffic etc. i just saw my urologist yesterday and still mentioned that i still have accidents at night and sometimes leak during the day, and also still rely on diapers during the day also. As it turns out , in my medical notes it says i have OAB, i guesss i always thought i had it but didnt realize it was stated like that on my official notes. Today at work si leaked 2 or 3 times over the course of my 3 hrs, and realized it was when i was leaning slightly forward to grab items off the belt and , was pushing on my bladder area, makes my glad i was diapered. Then right towards the end of my shift when it was crazy busy, i had a pretty intense urge to pee that i wasnt able to hold for long before i started wetting my diaper, and this was probably 45 minutes before i was to leave. So my whole thought about needing diapers during the day is that between my OAB and my significantly slower mobility and vision loss, i think i have a legit reason for needing diapers, another part of my reasoning is that i cant let my bladder issues dictate my navigating speed, when u gotta pee , u tend to try to move faster and i cant take that chance, while im trying to walk and cross streets. My mom thinks that im using my vision loss as an excuse to wear diapers during the day, given that she knows i was a DL to start with that doesnt help things .

What do u guys think overall? Do u think that since i have OAB , even tho its not really bad that i can get a prescription for diapers. Or should i not even bother and continue to pay for my own? Would my OAB qualify me as being IC?
I'd also like to hear about your situations with being blind and wearing diapers for new or for want. Thanks

A "visual disturbance" should qualify you as functional IC , a simple way of saying that either your body does jot give you ample waning to go , or due to a mobility disorder you can not navigate safely with required time to use the bathroom , nice and simple, see a Doctor and it should be a cake walk for a doctor you recognize that due to your vision you have a problem getting there in time.

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First, congrats on overcoming your blindness to come on the forums here. It sounds like you're managing your disabilities really well.

Second, yeah you'd qualify. OAB really only means the doctor knows you've got bladder problems, but doesn't know exactly what is causing it. It does mean he recognizes you have incontinence of some type though.

Add in your mobility issue and this more than qualifies you to get diapers covered through insurance. Insurance companies being what they are though, they won't want to approve you, or will try and give you some pretty cheap crap. You can fight and appeal this though, and can eventually get what you need.

Thanks slomo
Yeah, i just saw my urologist and forgot to ask her about a diaper Rx and maybe ill do that in the near future. She keeps trying to get me to try meds but id rather not do that. Im used to diapers and i have heard about side effects from those meds. Plus for me , its much more about my lack of vision effecting my ability to get to a bathroom in time, than anything else. I doubt they'd see this as a left reason for needing diapers. I see it as a very good one, but then again ive also bee in wearing diapers for 10 years or more on a consistent basis but havent really felt that i really needed them as much as i do now. I know other people may not use their lack of vision as a reason for needing diapers, but when your used to being better able to find them on ur own, its sure a big problem when u now aren't easily able to. Yeah getting back on here has been nice. Using an iphone has changed my life, even while having less vision, im able to still post on here as well as be connected to the world, podcasts, Netflix, audiobooks i love that im still able to enjoy all the things i used to.

i have a friend like him in fact i one time was a daddy of my friend, since well by his visual impairment can not do a lot , question yourself change your diaper or need assistance to do that? nik OAB means overactive bladder and yes that is incontinence